Widely used in the garment industry is a sewing machine of the overlock stitching type. The overlock machine is equipped with cutter knives for trimming away fabric edges. Use of the cutter knives generates a significant amount of waste in the form of lint dust, thread particles, and pieces of fabric. The user of the machine many times wear masks to cover his mouth and nose. Also, the user must stop intermittently the machine to remove some of the waste accumulating in the vicinity of the cutter knives. This can result in decreased productivity of the user.
To solve some of the problems caused by the waste, several vacuum devices have been developed to collect the waste produced by the overlock machine. One such vacuum machine for sewing machines is U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,319 issued to Liang. Liang teaches a collector box pivotally mounted to the sewing machine frame. A tubular conduit is used to connect the collector box to the portion of the flat-bed of the sewing machine where most of the waste fabric accumulates.
Another vacuum for sewing machines is taught by Kato in U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,712. Kato teaches a vacuum box having first and second different collection boxes with the second box having a suction hose of a larger diameter than the suction hose of the first box. The two suction hoses are attached at different portions of the sewing machine to optimally collect the waste generated by the machine.
What the prior arts lack is a vacuum box having features which optimizes its utility in functioning with an overlock machine. Overlock machines are housed in a flat-bed table typically of a standard height. Working space is a premium in a garment factory. The floors are usually filled with articles of garment, fabric, threads, and boxes. Also, free space on the surface of the flat-bed table is also usually filled with miscellaneous equipment and garments. Thus, a vacuum box which occupies minimal floor space while increasing top surface space is highly desirous.
A vacuum box can be designed having a height equal to that of the flat-bed table for placement adjacent to the flat-bed table. However, one problem is that most vacuum boxes have one or more suction hoses protruding from the box on the side facing the flat-bed. The positioning of the hoses requires that the vacuum box be displaced a predetermined distance from the flat-bed table causing a gap. Most users tend to utilize the flat space on the top surface of the vacuum box to place miscellaneous items. An extreme inconvenience is that many times, the items placed on top of the vacuum box fall through the gap. Many users try to fill the gap with various articles including boards and sheets of fabric.
Another feature of most garment factories is in the placement of electrical outlets. Due to the abundance of articles on the floor and placement of the machines throughout the area of the factory, electrical outlets are not placed along walls and floors. Instead the outlets are placed at a height above the workers on fixtures suspended from the ceilings or walls. The outlets are used to power each machine as well as radios, walkmans, and fans. Thus instead of electrical cords and cable cluttering the floor of the factory, electrical cords dangle suspended from outlets placed above the workers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum box for a overlock machine which occupies minimal floor space of a garment factory while providing a wide top surface for the user.
It is another object of the present invention to eliminate the gap between the top surface of the vacuum box and the flat-bed table when the vacuum box is placed next to the table.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vacuum box for use in a garment factory which reduces the amount of electrical cords dangling from outlets located above the workers.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a vacuum box with all of the above features which is inexpensive to manufacture.